Pickled Sea Cucumbers and Spicy Ramen
by Taki-Sama101
Summary: Aang, Toph and Zuko are thrown into the ninja world when Kyuubi begs for the help of the Avatar to save him and his tailed kin as they are manipulated and used for purposes of War, and Aang agrees hoping to return balance to the Ninja world. Ignore title, there is some comedy, but it is meant to be a serious story Rated T for Violence, Language and Blood. Read and Review.
1. Help Us

**Pickled Sea Cucumbers and Spicy Ramen**

**(Re-telling of Link to Another World)**

**By Taki-Sama**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Avatar-TLAB. Not for Sale or mass production, Just for fun.**

**Okay so I decided to re-write this story cause I wrote it a while ago and posted up the first few chapters in unfortunately It could have been better so I decided to start again with a little more thought put in to it. So without further ado, Here we go again!**

**P.S. Ignore the title this is an Action/Adventure and a few parts will scream Tragedy but I just couldn't think of an epic title so I went with this. **

**ENJOY!**

**P.S.S. Also the Story probably won't follow either story lines so if it doesn't seem to be following the Anime or Manga then I'm sorry but I just don't feel like watching Naruto all over again to try and get it right or trying to fit Aang and the others in there somewhere. Some elements of the story may be the same, Like Naruto being slightly shunned because of the Nine-tails thing but a lot of stuff will be different, but hey it's a Fan-Fiction with my flair of originality!**

**EDIT: I changed a few things here and there to fit a little better with what I want to happen in the future, not large changes for those of you who have read it, just some minor edits like grammar and such (like Gaara living in Konoha, I erased that sentence so the story begins before the chunnin exam.) **

_Chapter One : Help Us_

Aang shifted restlessly in his sleeping bag, the others had fallen asleep fairly quickly and it was apparent by the sounds of their breathing it would take an army to wake them.

They had arrived at the Eastern Air Temple three days ago and still Aang had not had the chance to explore it. Usually because Toph had him training harder these days and In all honesty the place was a bit creepier then the others, it had a stale feel to it, as if time stood still, there was no sound of the wind and even the small bugs that came out at night were silent, even during the day.

Aang sat up and looked around him at the others, he supposed it wouldn't hurt to explore a little since he couldn't sleep and he would only be gone for a few hours, so what could it hurt? Slowly he slipped out of his bag and stood trying to be quiet as the sounds of shifting fabric echoed through the unnaturally quiet halls. He gulped as Katara shifted in her sleep, he prayed to the Gods he hadn't woken her, he didn't want his midnight adventure to come to a sudden halt because she was worried for his safety. When the Water Bender remained asleep Aang let out a breath he hadn't known he had been holding and started to tiptoe away from the group.

"And where are you wandering off to..." a semi-deep but soft voice whispered from his left.

Aang spun around and locked his silver eyes with Zuko's gold ones as the Fire Bender stared up at the Avatar from his sleeping bag, as Zuko shifted into a sitting position he disturbed his sleeping buddy that crawled out of his sleeping bag with an annoyed but thankfully quiet growl before climbing onto Zuko's shoulders and wrapping his tail loosely around his neck. Aang stared at Momo for a second. _'so that's where he was...I was wondering about that lump in Zuko's bag for a while.' _he mused forgetting that Zuko had asked him a question.

"Well?" Zuko asked with a small frown.

Aang's gazed snapped back to Zuko and he gave him a awkward grin and put his hand behind his head.

"Oh...uh, I was just going to look around before everyone woke up...you know...i never had the chance to for the last few days." Aang explained looking a little sheepish for having woken up the Fire Bender, who really wasn't a night owl and hated to be woken up in the middle of the night, even for emergencies.

"You really should stop wandering off alone, you could get into trouble...like always." Zuko said but slowly began to stand up. "I'll come with you, I wanted to look around a little myself anyway, I have never really seen an Air Temple all the way through, besides I can't sleep anyway this place is too...quiet, if that is even supposed to make sense."

"Uh, sure I guess I could show you around, though I can't guarantee I'll know where I'm going." Aang replied and took the time to look at Zuko's face, he had bags under his eyes, even the scarring under his left eye looked a little darker than normal, and he looked a little pale to tell the truth.

Making sure not to wake any of the others Aang and Zuko make their way through the Temple sometimes stopping to stare at pictures on the walls, well Zuko stopped to stare, Aang stopped to explain to him what the pictures meant. Each one told a different story and Aang tried to tell each on as best he could without confusing the teen too much.

After a little more wandering the two came up to a door that was sealed shut and it was clear the only way to open it was through bending. Aang blinked as he stared at the massive door, it was even bigger than the one to get into the Southern Air Temple.

"Are we going in or are you just going to stare at it." Zuko said suddenly causing Aang to shake his head to clear it.

Aang took a few breaths in and let them out slowly before sucking in a massive amount of air and then letting it run through his body before he let it out pushing his arms out in front of him and sending two streams of air up each tube that connected to the locking mechanism. But instead of the musical tune that was supposed to follow the door's lock just released with a massive clank and the door swung open sending a blast of air at the two. Thankfully though, it wasn't powerful enough to send them flying, only push them back a few feet.

But still, that gust of wind sent a feeling of dread through Aang, he wasn't sure if he wanted to go in anymore. Suddenly he felt a warm weight on his shoulders and he looked over to see that Momo had slipped off Zuko and flew to him, though the lemur wasn't looking at him, he was staring into the dark room but didn't seem disturbed by it.

"Common, I feel if we stand here any longer we'll start to grow beards like Uncle..."

Aang stared at Zuko but nodded grinning at the Fire Benders attempt to lighten the eerie mood. _'though I wouldn't mind a beard...' _Aang thought as he strolled forward unconsciously raising a hand to the bare skin of his chin. At least he would look older that way.

As soon as they Entered the door suddenly slammed shut faster then they could blink and flames burst up from the torches surrounding the walls of a large circular room.

Aang let out a startled yelp and Zuko immediately shifted into a fighting stance out of instinct. But instead of being greeted by some kind of ambush or trap the room remained quiet and only the torches made noise as they flickered and popped.

"Is It just me...or do you get the feeling we should have stayed with the others?" Aang asked aloud with a quiet gulp.

"Yeah I think that would have been the smarter choice." But even as he spoke Zuko looked around the room and sucked in a breath as his eyes grazed along the walls. "Aang, what story do these tell?" he asked waving around the entire room.

Aang, who was frantically looking around the room for a way out let his eyes slow down and take in the pictures around him. He started by turning around to the pictures to the right of the door since the entire thing wrapped around the entire room, he might as well start at the beginning. But the longer he looked at them, his face began to form a frown of confusion.

"I'm not sure..."

"What do you mean your 'not sure'?" Zuko huffed, his temper wasn't in very good control now that he was locked in some creepy room.

"I have never heard of this story before..." he said running his hand along a painting of a man clad in strange cloth armor with many pockets, and a metal head band was strapped across his forehead. At a closer look he could see some sort of weird symbol on it but he couldn't make it out, time seemed to have worn heavily on the painting. "I guess this is some type of Warrior..."

"How do you know?" Zuko asked looking at the painting.

"Just a guess..." Aang replied and his eyes moved on to the other painting surrounding the room the rest of the paintings on the right looked like a map stretched outwards, it even had writing on it.

"It's like a whole different world...hey Zuko look at this, it has a Fire Nation." Aang said pointing at the red section of the map.

Zuko blinked in confusion. "Seriously?" he asked staring in shock at the map. There was no way this story could be true, their world looked nothing like this.

"Ever heard of the Hidden Village of the leaf"

"What?"

"Right here...it says Hidden village of the Leaf..." Aang replied pointing to a large dark red dot on the map.

"Well it's not very hidden if it's on the map now is it?" came Zuko's reply as he stared at the rest of the map. There seemed to be other large nations that seemed to be the main ones in power as they surrounded smaller nations and each had strange names that seemed to say they were hidden but clearly marked. "this is just strange..."

"yeah really..."

Aang let his eyes travel around the room to the rest of the paintings, slowly the story began to unravel, there had been war between the nations and it seemed to always start with revenge, then suddenly powerful leaders called Kage's were thrown into the mix to rule over each Village and keep peace and lend council to the Lords of the Nations, the Story confused Aang but he seemed to get the gist of it, his eyes flicked to the left and right of the room for that it how the story seemed to read, and soon his eyes came to rest on the middle picture, it was of nine very strange looking beasts but the one that stood out the most was of a giant fox creature with wild looking eyes and nine tails, its snarling face staring back into Aang's.

"Aang, I am really starting to get a bad feeling I think we should get out as soon as possible" Zuko gulped staring in shock at the creatures, they all looked like creatures of nightmare, but the Fox, The Fox looked real, not like a painting, like it could jump out at them at any moment. Its blood red eyes seemed to shimmer at the light of the fire rebounded off them, either it was some really impressive trick of the light made by the painter...or something else was going on...something supernatural. Suddenly Momo let out a frightened shriek and sprung from Aang shoulder and flew around the room frantically. Trying to find an exit before he dived into Aang's robes to hide.

"Y-Yeah...i think that would be best..." Aang agreed in a shaky voice taking a step back and quickly turning around and ran for the door Zuko following behind him.

When Aang reached the door he slammed himself against it and desperately tried to open it even shooting a few blasts of air at it. Zuko joined him and together both boys tried to open the unmovable door.

Their struggles were interrupted by the sound of rumbling under their feet and they jumped back just in time to see a tunnel open up where they had been standing. For a moment there was silence then a girl popped her head out of the whole.

"jeeze if you two made any more noise you would have brought this place down." Toph said climbing out of the hole.

"Toph!" Aang exclaimed throwing his hand into the air out of relief. "I thought we would never get out of here!"

Zuko sighed beside Aang and started towards the tunnel but even as they got their hopes up the ground shook and the tunnel closed.

"Toph! What gives!" Aang shouted

"It's not me!"

"Then what in the..." Zuko's sentence was cut short when the feeling of hot breath hit his back. He wasn't the only one who felt it either, Aang also turned around and Toph's face became confused and disgusted at the same time.

"Ewwww, Aang don't breath on me your morning breath is horrible." Toph exclaimed covering her nose. But with the sound of sudden growling Toph removed her hands and turned, reaching out with her hands, she felt something wet and cold and the growling caused vibrations run through her arms and she could see what was causing such a terrible noise. Her hands shot back quickly and she hid behind Aang not caring about her moment of weakness, the thing was huge and it could earth bend!

The three benders screamed at the sight of the Fox, its red fur shining in the light and its piercing red eyes glared down at them angrily, but at the same time a dark smirk that only a canine could muster formed on its evil face.

_'So, three puny humans come to stare at the Great Kyuubi?' _The great Foxes mouth moved slowly, thought its speech was fast as if it spoke to them through their minds but moved its mouth to give the illusion of true speech. As it spoke the room became warped and the sound of dripping water could be heard as if they were in a cave.

The three looked around at the dark room, Behind the Fox was a wall made of bars, they were in a cell of some sort with the creature, it was trapped.

Aang, switching from frightened boy to Avatar in an instant, stepped forwards and bowed to the great creature.

"We did not wish to disturb you Great Fox Spirit, my friends and I just stumbled upon a room in my people's temple, I did not know of the spiritual energy flowing around it until we woke you."

Zuko stood their quietly watching the Avatar as he tried to please the growling beast. Toph had made her way behind him after Aang moved forward.

'Temple? Ah, yes I see it now, you are from a different world one where you manipulate the elements and war against each other, just as Humans do in every world, and I see you little Human, I see many forms of you.'

"you can see my past lives?" Aang asked knowing immediately what the fox had meant.

_'Yes...'_ The three could see the Fox looked very thoughtful for a moment the anger in his eyes fading and the evil aura dimming. he seemed to take on a lighter aura as if evil wasn't truly was he was supposed to be. '_You are also a creature of balance...are you not?'_

Aang tilted his head to the side, not sure what the Fox was getting at but he nodded. "I am the Avatar, bender of all four elements and keeper of the peace between the four nations and a bridge between the world of the living and the world of spirits...though right now my world is in great turmoil and a war needs to be ended before more harm comes to the innocent." his face grew sad.

_'Help me...help us'_

"What?" Aang's eyes widened and he turned to Zuko to see if he heard the creature correctly. When Zuko shrugged he turned back to the Fox. "Who is 'us'?"

_'My brothers and sisters the Tailed beasts, the humans of our world have trapped us and warped us, they have enslaved our powers and use them to fight their wars, we were once creatures of peace and balance ourselves until the lords of the nations grew greedy and dark. Avatar, you must come to my world and stop this madness that flows through these lands, even if you cannot heal the people, free me and my kin from our bonds and let us heal our dying world.'_

Aang winced as Toph suddenly gained her courage back.

"Already Dog breath, look we know you have your problems but we can't leave! We have our own war to stop, Sparky's good ol' daddy is about to destroy are land and we can't just drop everything because you need help, if you're so powerful then free yourself!"

_'DON'T YOU THINK I HAVE TRIED!' _The Fox roared and Toph let out a small squeak and hid behind Zuko again, who had inched his way behind Aang.

"Please! Stop, Toph is right Great Fox, we cannot leave our own world during this war...or our friends. Being the Avatar I feel your pain and I an compelled to help, but I can't until I know I won't return to a burning land."

The Fox turned his eyes back to Aang and calmed again he seemed to consider the Avatar's words.

_'My power is limited, but if you agree to help, I will hold time in your world, years could pass but your land will stay the same as long as I live and you remain in my world.' _the Great Fox offered, desperate for the help of the Avatar now.

Aang turned to his two friends and looked up at them a pleading look in his eyes. "I have to help, I cannot turn him away."

Zuko nodded, he understood that Aang couldn't not refuse a plea for help from any creature. "I understand Aang, but your fire bending still needs some work, I'll go with you if you choose to go. If time really can pass in years and our world will stay, then maybe you'll have time to prepare before you face my father, you always said you need more time, here is your chance."

Toph sighed and her unseeing eyes stared in Aang's direction. "What about Sugar Queen and Sokka?"

Aang sighed and looked at the ground.

_'Anyone you leave behind will not even know you left.'_

"Then...I Will help you Great Fox. But, I wish to bring Toph and Zuko with me, they are my teachers and my friends if I plan to help you then I must continue with my training." Aang bowed in respect to the nine-tailed beast, he was glad to see the other two bow as well.

_'Very well. But be warned, should you fail and what is left of our once peaceful nature is turned to evil, then both our worlds will be destroyed, this world from its people and our power and yours from the aftershock of my power that connects these worlds.'_

"I understand." Aang frowned his heart beating wildly in his chest from fear, he could not fail either world, and one world was bad enough.

The Growling from the Great Fox became very loud at that moment and when the three benders looked up (Toph staring blindly in the direction of the noise), The Great beast seemed to have some kind of red aura floating around him, it was extremely dark and powerful and it surrounded the three benders wrapping around them tightly blocking their visions from the cage and the water filled room. Aang blinked trying to look around for his friends, then suddenly his robes began to whip around him and he had the strangest sensation of falling.

He glanced down at his feet as the Aura faded away.

_'oh hey look, I can see the land from up here...' _Aang mused and then something clicked in his mind as he stared down at the patches of land below his free falling form, he was falling from the sky, fast. He heard someone cry in shock and his head snapped to Zuko who was trying to turn himself in mid-air so his feet faced the land below, and tried to concentrate on his bending, sparks flashing in his hands but not quite lighting.

Panic finally set into Aang's mind and he screamed as both boys were rapidly approaching the earth below.

_~Naruto~_

A Pair of bright blue eyes cracked open to greet the day as Naruto woke from his sleep the bright sun blinding him as it blared through the open curtains. The blond yawned and sat up rubbing his sore eyes. He swung his legs off the bed and the moment he stood, taking a step forward, he tripped on his jacket that had been forgotten from the night before. He yelped as the floor came up to meet his face with a hard 'thud'.

"Ow..." he groaned and rolled onto his back to stare up at the ceiling. _'why do I always leave it there.' _he thought to himself before getting back up on to his feet, bending over to pick up the item of clothing to hang it up in the closet. He didn't need it, it was the middle of summer only an idiot would wear one outside, just because the others thought of him as stupid, didn't mean he had to live up to their expectations all the time.

Naruto sighed and stretched out his sore limbs till he heard popping, he immediately relaxed and rummaged through his dresser for his day's clothing. He groaned as he heard pounding on his apartment door. Sakura's annoying voice penetrated the wood soon after.

"Naruto! Get up already you idiot, we have been waiting for you for an hour now!"

Naruto rolled his eyes and quickly slipped on his black shirt and his orange pants. He made his way into the bathroom and ran his hands under the cool water of the sink faucet and ran his wet hands through his messy hair.

"NARUTO!"

Naruto turned off the tap and growled. _'damn woman...'_ he snarled inwardly. He walked quickly to the front door and opened it, his annoyed face instantly slipping into its natural mask of village idiot.

"Oh! Sakura-chan, sorry I forgot that we were meeting Kakashi-Sensei today." He lied giving her a stupid grin.

"Yeah right, you were just up late again weren't you, jeeze Naruto your useless." Sakura grumbled turning around and walking away from his apartment to go back to Kakashi and Sasuke. She never noticed Naruto's sky blue eyes glaring daggers into the back of her head.

"Bitch..." he mumbled before grabbing his shoes and locking up before following the pinked haired girl towards the training fields.

In the beginning he had never intended to act like an idiot, but if he tried to act like a serious Ninja like the others, because of his 'little problem' he would have been viewed as a threat instead of a harmless prankster slash dumb-ass, so he kept his wit to himself and made it look like he had no idea what was going on half the time while the place had its downside he liked the Hidden Leaf Village and would rather be allowed to stay without people living in fear of him. The only people who seemed to treat him with intelligence and understanding were his teachers Kakashi-Sensei, Iruka and Jaraiya-san, and maybe The Third some days.

As soon as he reached the training ground he immediately found himself locking eyes with Sasuke, who he openly glared at and wrinkled his nose into a sneer when the raven-haired boy glared back. They could have been friends at one point when they were little but now he just hated the emotional brat that didn't seem to realize that despite the horrors of his childhood he could have had a better life with friends that cared if he would drop the 'poor me' act.

"Naruto...your late again." Kakashi-Sensei said, his right eye staring down at the orange book that her held open in one of his hands, he really didn't seem to care that Naruto was late at all, he just thought he would voice it.

"Sorry Sensei, I had a rough night." he answered honestly. He hadn't been able to sleep, the nightmares were coming back. He was glad when his Teacher just looked at him with understanding.

"Well now that your all here..." Kakashi started closing his book and putting it back in his pouch. "We can get started, over a few months you all have grown stronger, but your teamwork is still lacking-"

"What the hell is that!" Naruto shouted out suddenly glaring up at the sky, trying to focus his eyes on something.

"Naruto! Don't interrupt!" cried Sakura rolling her eyes.

"Do you always have to be the center of attention?" Sasuke sneered.

Kakashi was the only one to follow Naruto's gaze, he also saw something strange, like two large birds falling from the sky, he squinted...those weren't birds.

Naruto ignored the others and ran off towards the falling figures.

Sakura and Sasuke finally looked up. Sakura gasped and Sasuke frowned before following after Naruto.

However the two figures got up there, they were dead if they hit the ground before they reached them.

_~End Chapter One~_

**A/N: Tada! Chapter one complete, I know I have other fan-fictions to work on, but I just couldn't leave this one alone. It was my first fan fiction ever and I decided to re-write it and try to work on it along with my others. Well enjoy and don't forget to REVEIW! And please if you didn't like it, don't flame me if you have to review, I'll take constructive critique but I will not read the ramblings of a flamer who has as much imagination as a flubberworm. Anyway love you to those who support me as I struggle with juggling three stories at once, the more you review the more likely you'll find a new chapter sooner! See you next time!**


	2. Meetings

**Pickled Sea Cucumbers and Spicy Ramen**

**(Re-telling of Link to Another World)**

**By Taki-Sama**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Avatar-TLAB. Not for Sale or mass production, Just for fun.**

**A/N: Chapter Two, in the last Chapter Aang and Zuko find themselves falling to their deaths and if they don't do something fast Naruto and his 'Friends' won't have much left to find. Toph is also missing, if they all came to this world...where is she?**

**P.S. Also if you notice when I change perspective, if the groups are separated from the other I will just use one name like ~Aang~ to show I have switched the point of view from Naruto's group to Aang's group, not necessarily the singular person, if they are separated individually then I will use a name such as ~Toph~ or ~Zuko~ mostly I will try to stay in the perspective of Aang's **

_Chapter 2: _

Naruto ran toward the two falling figures, the others close behind. He needed to do something before they hit the ground. They were right underneath them and Naruto started looking around himself trying to get an idea of how to save them. He ran over to one of the trees and was about to start climbing when Kakashi put a hand on his shoulder.

"What-" Naruto started, Kakashi was looking up at the two and he heard Sakura gasp in surprise and Sasuke had a wide eyes stare he looked purely shocked.

Naruto's head snapped upwards and his heart stopped beating his eyes staring up in disbelief, one of the figures had made himself go straight as a board and he started to spin around like a top falling faster then the other. The group had to move and hide behind the trees as the figure hurtled towards them, and then slowed down, he floated in mid-air for a moment and then landed softly on the ground, his silver eyes staring up at his companion before he took a breath inwards and spun around moving his arms as if he were pushing something upwards, Naruto could feel the wind stir around him and saw a wave of air shoot upwards and engulf the second person before gently lowering him down.

They were both dressed like they had come from the past, defiantly Asian, but nothing he had seen before. One was completely bald with strange arrow tattoos moving from his forehead, and around his arms, he could see part of the tattoo go down his back, but part of it was covered up by some type of monks garment colored bright yellow and orange and held together by a red sash, though he had brown pants and boots that seemed to work, but didn't seem like something a monk would wear. The other, the monks companion seemed more like a warrior, he was wearing a colors of red, brown and gold he wore pants and boots similar to the monk, though he had a red short sleeved kimono-type shirt hidden under a dark brown vest with gold trimming, something a noble might wear, but his hair was unruly, as if it had recently grown out and they both looked as if they hadn't showered in a while and his skin was tanner then the monks, and from what Naruto could see from his angle he had gold eyes instead of the silver of the shorter boy.

"Took you long enough, I thought you were just going to let us hit the ground." The warrior shouted, apparently he had a temper.

"Yeah, took me a while to figure out we were falling, I'm an air bender I spend most of my time up there." The monk replied with a shrug. "And I didn't know that when the Spirit brought us here, he would do it that way."

The warrior looked frustrated and pinched the bridge of his nose. "you're hopeless."

The Monk just grinned.

Naruto heard a snapping sound to his left and he turned his head to the noise to stare at Sakura who froze like a deer caught in head-lights. He turned his head back to find the two staring in their direction, they had heard to and both move into a type of fighting stance, Naruto figured they were martial artists, but he didn't recognize the forms.

"Show yourself!" The hot tempered warrior commanded, Defiantly royal by the way his voice sounded while he gave the order.

Naruto turned his head to Kakashi, waiting for him to show it was okay to move. He saw Kakashi sigh under his mask and moved out from behind the tree holding his hand up in surrender. Naruto and the other followed shortly after.

"Sorry, we hadn't meant to seem like spies...your entrance just shocked us." Kakashi started then frowned as he stared at the Warrior. Naruto followed his gaze and his breath caught, he looked to be around the same age as them but while he was handsome he had a nasty scar on the left side of his face that ranged from pink to bright red and looked like flames.

"What?" the warrior hissed, no doubt he was used to the looks the Naruto and the others were giving him as they stared.

The Monk stepped forward, placing a hand on Zuko's shoulder.

"Forgive us if we are trespassing on your land, we are travelers from a far land, and we seem to have gotten lost." The Monk explained.

"Thats a very weird way to get lost." Naruto spoke up and the monk just grinned again. "How did you get up there in the first place?"

"You know...I'm not sure." the kid monk put on an innocent face and he did seem a little thoughtful about it. "Oh! My name is Aang, and my friend here is Zuko, don't mind him he is just cranky...and this is...uh..." He seemed to stare beside Zuko and look around himself, then upwards and Naruto could see the panic on his face. "Uh Zuko...Toph came with us...right?"

Zuko blinked and looked around himself as well and then his eyes became as wide as his companions.

"Who is Toph?" Saukra asked tilting her head to the side, Naruto inwardly frowned, she was trying to be cute again and that only happened when she was flirting, she always choose the worst moments for that.

"She is our friend, oh please tell me you have seen her! She is about my height, black hair pulled up into a bun wearing green robes and is blind." Aang asked waving his hand in front of his face.

"I'm Sorry, but we haven't" Kakashi said looking apologetic. "if you return to the village with us, maybe you'll find her there. But I'll need you to come with me to report to the Hokage."

"Thats your leader right?" Aang asked, he didn't seem to familiar with the term, as if he had only heard it once before.

Naruto stepped forward. "he is the head of Konoha, The Third, a lot of people know him."

"We come from very, far away." Zuko spoke up, his eyes narrowing, Naruto knew he was starting to hit questions that they didn't seem comfortable answering.

"Where exactly did you say you came from?" Sasuke asked in his usually monotone voice, make the question seem casual but at the same time act as if he really didn't care.

"We didn't say." Zuko growled, apparently annoyed with the way Sasuke was acting. "besides, I don't like to be questioned by people who haven't given their names after we offered ours."

Naruto slapped his forehead. "Sorry, My Name is Naruto." He said putting on his invisible mask that instantly made him the goof again. "Pretty boy there is Sasuke, then there is Sakura...and-"

"Kakashi." Naruto huffed and crossed his arms as Kakashi interrupted him.

"I was getting there!" Naruto whined closing his eyes in the fox like manor that he used to to all the time when he was younger.

"Shut up Naruto, we are all capable of saying are own names! Just because you constantly have to repeat yours so your tiny brain doesn't forget it, it doesn't mean you have to shout ours out to everyone. " Sasuke sneered glaring at the blond.

"I asked for names and he gave them, you do not have to act like he is an idiot because of that, it makes you seem childish." Zuko crossed his arms and frowned glaring at the raven haired kid Naruto had called Sasuke.

Aang stared up at Zuko, hoping his temper would keep at a manageable level, he sometimes forgot Zuko had been the prince of the fire nation, but he was always reminded later at time like this.

"I am not a child!" Sasuke yelled anger playing across his face.

"Your certainly acting like one, even a twelve year old can act like an adult sometimes." Zuko said giving the raven a small smirk.

Aang blinked. "What do you mean sometimes? Because you and Katara have been training me so hard I barely have time to be a kid."

Zuko sighed and shook his head. He looked up and saw the four Warriors (he assumed they were) Staring between Aang and himself.

"Wait...he's Twelve?" the Yellow haired kid, Naruto spoke up. "No way I thought he was at least fifteen! Dude I wish I had looked like you at twelve, where did you get all those muscles!"

"Well..." Aang started and Zuko could tell he had switched back from wise monk to kid. "Technically I'm one-hundred and twelve, but I'll get into details later, but for the past year all my friends have been training me constantly so I can stop the war, well Zuko started training me a few months ago after he was done chasing me around the world and-"

"Aang!" Zuko hissed and Aang's eyes went wind and he blushed shamefully.

"Whoops..." he mumbled rubbing a hand behind his head, he always loved to talk to new people, and they had seemed friendly enough.

"What war?" The question came from the oldest of the four, Kakashi.

Zuko sighed and his hand came up and met his face, his fingers pinching the bridge of his nose. "As I said, we come from very far away, it would be better if we could speak with your leader so we don't have to repeat ourselves. I'm sure he has the same questions."

Kakashi nodded and looked at his students. "Go back to the village we'll continue training later." he ordered two of his students nodded and took off, but Naruto remained behind.

"Sensei, if its alright with you I would like to join you and the two travelers."

Kakashi stared at Naruto for a moment and he turned back to Zuko and Aang. "If it's alright with you, I'm sure you don't want your story spread among every villager but Naruto knows how to keep a secret."

Zuko and Aang looked to each other and back to Naruto but they nodded.

"It's alright with us." Aang said grinning at Naruto.

_~Fifteen Minutes later~_

By the time they reached the main building where the Hokage was located Aang and Naruto had already started to build up on a friendship. They were chatting away about everything and nothing, luckily Aang hadn't said anything about their home yet except for a few funny stories about their other friends, and Naruto was going on about a few of his own friends and how they were called ninjas and jutsus and some other words he didn't understand, he picked up on Chakra, that word he knew well, his uncle hadn't missed a step always reminding him how his had been out of balance, he missed the old man.

When they reached the door to the Hokage's room Aang and Naruto immediately hushed and waited for Kakashi to knock before they entered.

"Kakashi, you know I have a ton of paper work..." The Hokage, if he and Aang remember correctly, stated staring at a long scroll of parchment before looking up the slight annoyance on his face immediately dropping into a look of interest. "Forgive me I wasn't expecting anyone today, I would have cleaned up a little." he apologized referring to a ton of parchment pieces and scrolls all over his desk and crumpled sheets on the floor near a small metal trash bin.

Aang stepped forward and lifted his hands to his face and placed them together before bowing respectfully. "It is an honor to meet you Hokage, My friend and I have come from a far land and did not expect to be here either, forgive us for the interruption, but being that we are guests in your land we feel the need to explain our business here."

Naruto looked between the Third and Aang, the old man seemed pleased that the strange monk treated him with great respect and shoved his papers aside, leaning back in his seat like he always did when dealing with a serious or interesting matter. He looked over at Kakashi and moved his head slightly signaling his teacher to shut the door.

"My paperwork can wait, I am happy to see that not all of you youngsters have lost your respect for your elders." the Third mused with a small smile. "Please take a seat, I will listen." he said waving to mats on the floor.

Aang and Zuko both bowed this time before taking a seat.

"Do you want to start or should I?" Naruto heard Aang whisper to Zuko who sighed.

"I will." Zuko said but he didn't look to excited to speak. He turned all his attention to the Hokage and let out a breath he had been holding and began their tale from the beginning, he started from his perspective and Aang soon followed after him with his story and continued on to explain what had happened in the Eastern Air temple.

"When Zuko and I entered a hidden chamber we stumbled upon a painted wall of your world and in all honesty it scared me, we reached a picture of the spirits you know as the Tailed beasts, I think my presence in that room must have triggered a bridge to open between our worlds because myself and Zuko and Toph were trapped inside by a huge fox spirit."

"Did it have nine tails..." Naruto asked quietly clenching his fists and staring at the ground his eyebrows knitted into a small frown. He could feel everyone staring at him, Zuko and Aang looking curious and the other two looking a bit worried.

"Yes...he did." Aang said slowly but continued when Naruto said nothing else. "At first we thought his intention was to harm us, he seemed angry and hostile, but he calmed down one he saw what and who I was and his energy became light, hopeful instead of hateful. He said his kind were being used to wage war and their home was being destroyed by the greed of others and their spirits corrupted, as the Avatar it is my job to keep balance no matter where I am from I am a bridge from my world to the spirit world, which is connected to many other worlds if I cannot keep Balance within either, everything could be torn apart. I suppose other worlds have a type of balance keeper, but it seems this worlds balance was lost long ago and now the Spirits had to reach out to me for help."

Naruto looked up at the Hokage who had his eyes locked on him and once and a while they would dart back to Aang. When Aang finished the Third stood and walked to the window with a sigh.

"Aang, did Kyuubi tell you where he was trapped." he said calmly.

"Er...no, but I figured if I could destroy the object the ties him down then he would be free to return to the spirit world and be at peace one again."

Naruto cringed and looked down, he noticed Zuko look at him with narrowed eyes, and he watched out of the corner of his eyes as the warrior placed a hand on Aang's shoulder to alert him of Naruto's mood.

"You Can't." Naruto said flatly looking away as everyone moved their eyes to him. He said nothing more, he didn't want to reveal his secret even if he had made it obvious now.

"Aang, Zuko we know you mean well, but its much more complicated then just showing up and destroying a few simple objects to free the Tailed beasts...the Spirits are not sealed in simple objects..." Kakashi said staring at the Hokage to make sure he still had the right to tell them, when he said nothing Kakashi turned back to Aang and looked a little shamefully at him. "They are sealed within people."

Aang groaned and slapped a hand to his face and Zuko pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Our work just got a lot harder...didn't it." Aang mumbled almost looking defeated.

"Aang...I don't think the Fox meant for us to be able to finish this within a few weeks...he was serious when he said years could pass and our world would stay the same...I think we are stuck here for a while." Zuko removed his hand and sighed, he knew this had been a bad idea.

"I'm sorry if we gave you bad news, but you have to understand our positions as well." The Hokage said waving a hand in front of his face to get rid of a pesky fly that buzzed in through the window.

Aang opened his mouth but stopped when something inside his robes started to move and the Monk giggled and move his hands around to stop the movement. "Momo!" he shouted and a strange furry creature with huge eyes and ears dived out of his robes and flew straight at the Third, catching the fly and landing in the window nibbling on the bug it had caught.

"Whoa!" Naruto shouted standing up, breaking the somber mood. "What the hell is that thing!" he cried and the Creature started making a strange musical noise.

"Thats my flying lemur, Momo, he's one of my best friends." Aang said standing up but wasn't able to reach for him in time when Kakashi made a move to see him closer. "Careful he doesn't like stranger-" but before Aang could finish his sentence, Momo noticed the movement of the silver haired man and arched his back and made a sound close to a hiss and a shriek and took off out the window. "MOMO!" Aang shouted and ran towards the window and jumped out before anyone could stop him.

Naruto stared in surprise along with Tsunade and Kakashi as the young Monk landed on the roof and then in a fluid movement threw himself into the air and landed on a roof at least twenty houses down chasing after his flying pet.

He looked at Zuko who slapped his forehead and sighed. "I forgot he slipped through with us..." The warrior mumbled.

"What the hell was that! I knew you said he was some type of balance keeper but we didn't know about that kind of power!" Naruto half yelled, still shocked.

"We told you we were Benders." Zuko said simply.

"I think you forgot to mention what a bender was, here we have to use special hand signs and gather up our Chakra before we can even attempt something like that and he made it look as if it were very simple." Kakashi explained and Zuko sighed.

"I'll explain later, I'll even show you...after we get Momo back, Aang will be upset if he loses the fur ball."

_~A few hours later~_

It was Naruto who had finally caught the Lemur, the creature had managed to find its way back onto the training field and found it being harassed by a few of the new students that went to the academy, each kid taking a turn to let the creature go and then jump up as high as they could to catch it again. Honestly Naruto didn't catch the creature, when one of the kids let him go he dived at Naruto and attached himself to the blond making the musical noises again and grabbed onto his hair hiding behind Naruto's head and wrapping his tail around his neck shrieking as the kids ran up to get him back.

"Hey! Give him back, we were still having fun with him!"

Naruto frowned and reached behind his head to pat the lemur on the head he was about to yell at the kids when Aang landed beside him.

"Momo!" the child Monk cried and grabbed the lemur and hugged him he then turned and glared at the smaller kids apparently he hadn't been far behind Naruto and saw the harassment. "What wrong with you! How would you like it if I let you run away and then pulled you back over and over again when you were trying to get away!" he yelled angrily holding his companion close.

"We were having fun, its just a stupid animal." One of the kids huffed crossing his arms and wrinkling his nose. His face suddenly dropped and he stared behind Naruto and Aang.

Naruto turned his head a little to see Zuko standing there, rage implanted on his face, apparently he also like the small creature, and he looked extremely intimidating his scar making him seem scarier then he actually was and the air around him seemed to give off an awful lot of heat.

"It's people with your attitude that cause harm in the world, I don't care if your just a child, you keep thinking like that and your going to end up no better then the monsters from your nightmares." Zuko hissed his lips curled up in almost a snarl, he reminded Naruto of one of the Dragons in the paintings from a few books he had read. "Get out of my sight."

The kids nodded and ran away from the three of them and Naruto just stared at Zuko, when he looked at Aang he could see understanding on the Monks face, Zuko had hid something from his story, he hadn't mentioned how he got his scar or why he had been chasing the Avatar before he joined them.

_~Toph~_

Toph groaned and rolled over onto her stomach and sat up she punched the ground and let the vibrations flow through the ground, but the picture she got back was fuzzy and her hand hadn't hit solid ground and neither had her body when she landed.

"Oh great...more sand." she growled standing up and shaking the dusty substance from her hair, she was glad she was an earth bender and strong in body or she probably wouldn't have survived the fall. "Stupid dog breath, he didn't say we would have to save his world if we survived the fall first..." she grumbled and sighed, she didn't hear Aang or Zuko and even in the sand she couldn't feel their presence, they probably landed somewhere else.

"HELLO?!" She yelled and listened as her voice echoed for a distance before dying out. she frowned, she couldn't feel if there were buildings anywhere near. She was trapped in the middle of a wasteland again, only this time she didn't have Sugar-queen or twinkle-toes with her to give some kind of pep talk about how everything was going to turn out in the end.

She growled and kicked some of the sand before picking a direction to stomp off in. "Stupid deserts."

It was a few more hours before Toph had to stop to rest, using when little she knew of sand-bending she made the ground below her feet solid and sat on top of it, crossing her arms and pouting. She hated sand. after a few minutes she could feel vibrations running through the sand and into her small patch of rock. she placed her hands on it and tilted her head with a frown. Someone, a few someones were coming towards her, and fast.

Out of reaction she stood and went into a defensive position, spreading her legs apart and crouching down with her hands held out in front of her, ready for an attack. In moments she was surrounded by three individuals, from what she picked up, though it was still fuzzy, it was a small group with one girl and two boys and they were loaded with weapons.

After a moment of silence as they studied her, also i defensive positions, one of them spoke, it was the larger of the boys, he seemed to relax and he was whispering to the others as if she couldn't hear him.

"Pfft...all this worry for nothing, its just a blind girl."

Toph could feel the others relax as well, well the girl at least, the other boy still seemed to be ready for something. Toph smirked and lifted one of her legs and slammed it on the ground, the hardened sand rose into the air in smaller pieces and she pulled her arms back and punched the air, one arm after the other and the rocks were sent flying forward slamming into the one that spoke. She could feel the others shift back into offensive stances before she relaxed still smirking.

"Thats the Blind Bandit to you bub." She said proudly puffing out her chest and grinning as the boy picked himself up, she couldn't see but she knew he was glaring at her.

"Who?" Asked the girl, shifting her stance a little into a defensive one. "I have never heard of the Blind Bandit, are you a rogue ninja? If you are, you are passing into Suna territory and if you mean us harm then drastic measures will be taken."

"Hold your ostrich-horses miss chatty pants, one question at a time...I have my own you know!" Toph said sticking her pinky finger in her ear and twisting it around. "I guess you could call me a rogue...but i have no idea what a nin-ja is I was traveling with my friends but we were separated from each other." She pulled her finger back out of her ear and flicked off the ear wax that came with it, not caring if the three in front of her found the action gross. She could feel them look at each other from the turn of their heads.

"Where are you from." It was the smaller boy that asked this time, Toph stared into his direction, he gave off an aura that told her she couldn't mess with him like the others. she decided to put her wasted years of nobility to good use.

"My name is Toph Bei-Fong, I come from the Earth Kingdom capital of Ba Sing Se." She answered truthfully.

"How did you come to be here?" he asked, his voice calm but something sinister laid beneath, he even seemed to make his companions a little nervous.

"I can't answer that question...because i have no idea exactly, two of my friends were exploring a temple and were sealed inside a room, when i found them, we were transported here." She found it useless to lie at the moment, it would get her nowhere with these people, not that they would be able to tell if she was lying, being the expert in that area she found that she had a very sly tongue. "I know it sounds stupid, you probably think I'm lying, but that is what happened."

"There is nowhere called Ba Sing Se in the Earth Country, you're lying." The girl said angrily. "Stop messing with us and tell the truth!"

"Arg! Thats because we don't come from your world you twat!" Toph yelled. "I am telling the Truth, I don't have a reason to lie to you! and its not called Earth Country! Its called the Earth Kingdom!"

"You attacked us, you could be an enemy!"

"He called me a blind girl!" Toph pointed in then general direction of the first boy, before frowning, sliding her foot on the ground and then moved her finger more to the right blushing faintly as she realized in her frustration she had been pointing at air.

"You are blind." the smaller boy said flatly. "and a girl."

"Yeah but he meant i was weak for it." Toph mumbled. "I was just showing him to open his eyes to different possibilities."

They seemed to like her answer, because they all relaxed again.

"Sooo...where am I?" Toph asked tilting her head to the side.

"As Temari said, you are in Suna territory. We are part of Wind Country and governed over by the Kazekage."

Toph pretended to know what a Kazekage was and nodded. "Also...what are your names...well besides You...I'm guessing you're Tamari since he just said your name." Toph pointed at the girl and gave her a small smirk.

Temari sighed and took a step forward. "These are my brothers Kankuro and Gaara, we are Genin Ninjas from the village Suna.

"And, I'm supposed to know what a Gen-whatever you are, is?" Toph huffed impatiently. She held back a grin as the girl groaned, she loved messing with people.

"We are elite warriors." Temari said flatly.

"Oh, okay, see now we are getting somewhere." Toph said with grin. Her grin dropped as she felt a slight shift in the sand below her, it was fuzzy but it was there and it was coming from Gaara. She felt tendrils of the crushed rock coming towards her, and they felt, off. And it throbbed with danger. Immediately she took her earth bending stance as the sand shot up in thin darts like needles, she slammed her foot in the ground and made a motion with her arms as if she were lifting something heavy and a wall of hard sand rose in front of her in seconds blocking the sand needles from reaching her.

She didn't lower her wall instead she slammed into it and it formed around her like armor, even covering her eyes, she didn't need to see after all.

"How did you do that?" Gaara asked, she could hear the others breathing and their heartbeats were fast, panicked, they hadn't expected him to do that, but they were also scared…of him. He didn't seem to move anymore but she concentrated on him a bit harder, slamming her foot in to the earth and sending the fuzzy vibrations towards him she frowned, he was covered in the dark sand and more of it radiated out of a gourd on his back.

"Why did you attack me?" she growled through the hard sand refusing to answer until he explained himself. When he didn't answer, it only server to piss her off. "Answer me!" She shouted spikes of hardened sand rising up behind her in her anger. She felt the other two take a step back but Gaara didn't move.

"I wanted to see what you did last time…to see if it was a jutsu I recognized…" He said his voice even, but she could hear his heartbeat, it was almost normal, but she could tell she had at least surprised him by just the small amount it had risen.

"you could have just asked…sheesh, are all of you like this?" she asked still a bit disgruntled, but she let the armor fall away from her.

"Like what?" Kankuro asked, seeming to have regained his bravery.

"All dark and mysterious, who seem to take a liking in the harm of others, and don't lie, if I hadn't blocked that attack I would have been seriously harmed and you wouldn't have blinked." her blind eyes narrowed at Gaara for a moment, with the sand that covered him she could almost see him perfectly, though her 'sight' was still a bit fuzzy, she hated sand even more now. She let out a sigh blowing her bangs up for a moment before she decided to answer his previous question. "If you really wanted to know, it's called Earth-bending."

"Earth-bending?" Kankuro asked with a small frown.

"Yeah, where I come from we have people called benders, we bend the four elements. Water, Earth, Fire and Air...well we used to have people that bent Air, but they are all dead now except Aang..." Toph shifted a sadly, she missed her friends, though she wouldn't say anything to them if she ever saw them again.

"What happened to them?" Temari asked taking a step closer to the younger girl.

"The Fire Nation killed them...wiped them out even though they were peaceful nomads, and now they are trying to take over my home and pretty much get rid of other benders thinking fire is superior then the other elements."

"So your people are at war I take it." Kankuro said crossing his arms.

"Yeah...but not all Fire benders are bad..." Toph started and then trailed off not sure if she should really be telling them everything.

"You mentioned some one named Aang, who is he? One of your friends that traveled with you?" Temari asked, extremely interested in what the Blind girl had to say.

"Er, well yeah...but I'm not sure I should be saying anything else. It's a touchy subject and...well...while you haven't killed me yet I don't have much reason to trust you all." Toph shifted rubbing a hand on her right arm as if she were a bit ashamed.

"It's alright, but you'll have to come with us back to Suna to meet with the Kazekage...you are in our territory now and they will want to know your not hostile. Also it seems like you don't have anywhere to stay so maybe the Kazekage will let you stay within the city for the time your here or until you find your friends or they find you." Temari offered giving her a small smile even if Toph couldn't see it.

"Alright, I guess I could come with you." Toph said giving her a grin before her blind eyes turned towards the direction of Gaara. "But you...try to kill me again and I'll turn you in to Komodo Chicken feed before you can even realize where you screwed up." she warned the sand-covered boy. "Other then that I hope to become good friends." her Grin returned to her face as she felt his heart skip a few beats, but the sand on his face didn't move meaning he was good at hiding his emotions outside, but she didn't need to see his face to know she had startled him, not with her threat, but with her offer of friendship.

Their journey back to Suna was easy going, Gaara and Toph in the front, the blind girl whining how she hated sand and deserts, something about not being able to 'see' very well. Temari and Kankuro took the back of the group as normal and Kankuro took the time to lean over to Temari to ask her something that had been on his mind since her threat to Gaara.

"Hey Temari?"

"What Kankuro?"

"Whats Komodo Chicken?"

**A/N: Yay chapter two! Sorry it took so long, I had to edit and re-edit and then think where I wanted this story to go, after I figured that out I started to write again, hopefully you wont have t wait for chapter three, but we'll see what life throws at me next haha.**

**Till next time!**

**~Taki-Sama~**


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